[Wingy]

I've read through 102 posts on this subject and I cannot find the first reference to the dustbowl. From account from my parents and others that lived through that time, there were seven years of drought in the midwest that doomed many farmers and their banks to bankruptcy. This was seen by many as the main reason the depression lasted as long as it did. The policies instituted by FDR didn't help the situation and truly made them worse at the time. Later reforms (FDIC) were insurance that it wouldn't happen again, but it did nothing to get many people back on their feet after the fact.

Smoot-Hawley was a factor in the stock market crash of '29 but the market had regained it's pre-crash levels by the summer of '31. That's when the banks started to fail due to the massive crop failures of '30, and by '33 when the Fed began it's monetary contraction the banks that were left couldn't stand the strain and folded.

I wasn't there and I haven't done any particular study of this time, but these are the accounts of those that lived through it.

Be well...

[elbucko]

I've read through 102 posts on this subject and I cannot find the first reference to the dustbowl.

I think, I might know why. The "Dust bowl" can almost be considered in the separate context of agriculture. As a boy I knew a lot of "Okies" that were friends of my parents. The most knowledgeable attributed the dust bowl to massive over farming. The economics, though important, were a consequence of the dust bowl. One old guy, I remember as a kid, blamed it on the tractor. He said they never had any problems until the tractor allowed one farmer to plow the land of three.

Also, I think most of the poster's, though not all, are city boys. I have ranching experience, but farming is rocket science to me.

[nicollo]

Smoot-Hawley was a factor in the stock market crash of '29 but the market had regained it's pre-crash levels by the summer of '31. That's when the banks started to fail due to the massive crop failures of '30, and by '33 when the Fed began it's monetary contraction the banks that were left couldn't stand the strain and folded.

Just to correct this about the stock prices, do note:

[nicollo]

re. dustbowl

At the time of the market crash, 23% of Americans worked on farms. The relative value of farm products to the GNP was much higher than today, too. The crash in stocks and commodity prices (started early than '29) hit the farmer especially hard, but tight money and credit was the knock-out blow.